India is poised to resurge as a maritime power, with cooperative engagement as its most prominent pan-regional characteristic. Enabled by a sound national strategy within the Indo-Pacific region and beyond, this would enable successive governments to further the overarching national objective of securing the economic, material, and societal wellbeing of the people of India. In this context, the book appraises the various facets related to India's ascendance as a maritime power, and lays down policy-relevant recommendations to assist the national policy-makers to chart the 'way ahead'. This book additionally seeks to address policymakers in other countries of the Indo-Pacific region, as also extra-regional State entities that are actively seeking to engage with India.

Reflecting the diversity of economies and their histories, regional integration follows markedly different patterns across the world. In Asia, trade integration has progressed at a rapid pace, based on the exploitation of intra-regional comparative advantages. This book analyzes the nature of Asia's merging regionalism, which can have a significant impact in an increasingly globalized world. Regionalism can be a stabilizing factor when economic shocks arise, whether regional-based or externally-imposed. The book examines these global economic and monetary integration processes. What is the status of Asian integration in monetary, financial, trade, and production networks? These aspects are discussed and compared with successful European economic and monetary integration. To give a more extensive view to the readers, separate chapters have been included on the North American Free Trade Agreement, Latin America's Mercado Commum de Sur, and the African Economic and Monetary Integration. The book will benefit students, researchers, policy makers, and all others who want to understand and assess the status, processes, and challenges of economic and monetary integration.

This book is a compilation of papers presented at a day-long conference organised in Chennai, on March 28 2019 by the Chennai Centre for China Studies (C3S) in partnership with the National Maritime Foundation (NMF) and the Department of Defence and Strategic Studies, University of Madras, and supported by the Indian Navy and Indian Coast Guard on the theme, "Securing India's Maritime Neighbourhood: Challenges and Opportunities". Contributors included a whole galaxy of luminaries from the serving and veteran echelons of the Indian Armed Forces, the diplomatic community, maritime industry, doyens of Indian academia, and distinguished personalities from the Fourth Estate. A number of facets of seminal importance to national security were addressed in the book. These included conceptual, geopolitical, economic, environmental and technological issues.

This book is a compilation of papers presented at a day-long conference organized in Chennai, on March 28, 2019, by the Chennai Centre for China Studies (C3S) in partnership with the National Maritime Foundation (NMF) and the Department of Defence and Strategic Studies, University of Madras, and supported by the Indian Navy and Indian Coast Guard on the theme, “Securing India's Maritime Neighbourhood: Challenges and Opportunities�. Contributors included a whole galaxy of luminaries from the serving and veteran echelons of the Indian Armed Forces, the diplomatic community, maritime industry, doyens of Indian academia, and distinguished personalities from the Fourth Estate. A number of facets of seminal importance to national security were addressed in the book. These included conceptual, geopolitical, economic, environmental, and technological issues.

When the Indian economy faced an unprecedented macroeconomic crisis in 1991, fiscal consolidation constituted a major objective of the policy response. For this purpose, it became necessary to: enhance tax and non-tax revenue, curtail current expenditure growth, restructure public sector undertakings, improve fiscal-monetary co-ordination and deregulate financial system. The need for improvements in budgetary practices led to the enactment of the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management (FRBM) Act, 2003 which ushered the Indian economy in an era of fiscal consolidation based on fiscal policy rules. The passage of the Constitution (Seventy-third Amendment) Act, 1992 marked a watershed in the history of modern India. With this amendment, a uniform structure of panchayats emerged throughout the country. Similarly, the passage of the Constitution (Seventy-fourth Amendment) Act, 1992 was a landmark in the history of municipal administration in India. Resultantly, panchayats and municipalities are now constitutional bodies forming third tier to the federal polity of India. This decentralisation initiative poses challenges and offers opportunities. To counter the negative fallout of the global meltdown on the economy, Indian Government took prompt action by providing substantial fiscal stimulus. This book provides an account of fiscal developments in India during the post-liberalisation period, with particular emphasis on decentralisation initiatives. It also examines prospects and challenges facing the Indian economy. An appendix included in the book contains Fiscal Policy Strategy Statement presented to Parliament by Shri Pranab Mukherjee, Minister of Finance, on February 26, 2010.